ULTRA-THREAD

[o.supreme]

I dont think it is a US release. If you follow the source (VAP), you get this page:

http://www.vap.co.jp/u-seven/dvdbox.html

It appears to be region 2 (DVD) only. It would be a nice template for a US distributor to purchase the rights for however...

[kpa]

Check out SciFi Japan for an early review of the new movie, ULTRAMAN SAGA!

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2012 ... aman-saga/

[kpa]

O.supreme is correct. It's a Japanese release.

[o.supreme]

Check out SciFi Japan for an early review of the new movie, ULTRAMAN SAGA!
http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2012 ... aman-saga/

Nice read! It's too bad the film did not live up to Jim’s expectations. Still I won’t discount it until I’ve had a chance to see it for myself. But I agree in some respects that it seems these movies have “run their course” would I like to see more? Sure. But unlike Jim and some others that believe the movies have gone down a bit in Quality since Ultraman Mebius & Ultraman Brothers (2006). My opinion is that they actually got better and peaked out at Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy (2009). For me personally this was the closest to a “perfect” Ultraman movie as there ever has been, and the next entry was considerably weaker.
I do have a few questions though…

The poster shows Showa Era- Ultraman, Seven, Jack & Leo, yet there is no mention of them in Jim’s review, and no pictures? Do they just have Cameo’s? If they are not involved in the fights at all, this would be a major let down.

-Not related to this film, but I’ve still just been wondering- Is there any interest from Tsuburaya at ever bringing back Gridman? (2013 would be his 20th anniversary) I mean the last film showed reimagining of 3 other Tsuburaya heroes. I think Computer Viruses are more relevant now than they were 20 years ago. Seeing an update of Gridman paired up with some Ultramen would be truly awesome IMHO (heck- if Ultraseven can shrink down, who’s to say other Ultra’s cant?)

[kpa]

I do have a few questions though…

The poster shows Showa Era- Ultraman, Seven, Jack & Leo, yet there is no mention of them in Jim’s review, and no pictures? Do they just have Cameo’s? If they are not involved in the fights at all, this would be a major let down.

I haven't seen the film, but my understanding is they just have cameos along the lines of their appearances in ULTRAMAN ZERO. If I hear otherwise, I'll post it here.

-Not related to this film, but I’ve still just been wondering- Is there any interest from Tsuburaya at ever bringing back Gridman? (2013 would be his 20th anniversary) I mean the last film showed reimagining of 3 other Tsuburaya heroes. I think Computer Viruses are more relevant now than they were 20 years ago. Seeing an update of Gridman paired up with some Ultramen would be truly awesome IMHO (heck- if Ultraseven can shrink down, who’s to say other Ultra’s cant?)

I haven't heard anything about a Gridman revamp but-- like you said-- TPC has a history of reviving old characters so I wouldn't be surprised if a new version of Gridman pops up in a film or video special.

[o.supreme]

Thanks for the responses Keith. Also I read your comment on another thread about the upcoming Ultraman movie guide for Sci-Fi Japan. I cant wait for that! I really like Tiga, and was recently able to stream the short film: Ultraman Tiga Gaiden: Revival of the Ancient Giant (2001) (The only movie with Tiga I had not seen). Unfortunately this was quite a disappointment. There were many cool concepts (Ultraman going back in time etc...) but it just seemed to fall flat, unless something was lost in translation (the fansubs were not the greatest). Also I didn't even see the Tsuburaya logo at the beginning, so I wasn't even sure if this was a True Ultraman film, or just a knockoff. If anyone who has seen this could fill me in, this would be appreciated. Thank you

[Jim Ballard]

But I agree in some respects that it seems these movies have “run their course” would I like to see more? Sure. But unlike Jim and some others that believe the movies have gone down a bit in Quality since Ultraman Mebius & Ultraman Brothers (2006).

As individual movies, I don't think there's been a downward trend in quality since 2006. For me, it's really been going up and down every year. The latest just happens to be the worst.

What I was touching upon at the end of the review wasn't so much the quality of individual movies, but the tedium of the increasingly convoluted universe(s) we've been stuck in since 2006 as a whole. Recently they just seem to be picking random Ultramen out of a hat and making a movie regardless of whether or not it makes any kind of rational sense for these different worlds to come together. The over-sized mega monsters in every movie are also starting to become a huge bore. After 6 years of this, I'd just like to get something totally fresh like we did with COSMOS, NEXUS, MAX, etc. I didn't even like COSMOS, but at least it tried something different.

[o.supreme]

As individual movies, I don't think there's been a downward trend in quality since 2006. For me, it's really been going up and down every year. The latest just happens to be the worst.

Oh I get it, Kind of like the Star Trek films. Anyaway, thank you for clarifying Jim, and I agree 100% that the quality of the films does have an "up and down" trend, and the choices of Ultramen does seem random. Although it feels at times like they try for variety, and for who has not been seen in a while, ...well except for Dyna. Again- great review Jim. Thank you for yoru time, and I envy you for being able to attend a movie premier such as this.

[NSZ]

Although it feels at times like they try for variety, and for who has not been seen in a while, ...well except for Dyna.

Does that really justify tossing every timeline into a blender and hitting puree, though?

[Rody]

The way I see it, the majority of Ultra warriors originally came from the same universe & the same planet. They simply were traveling to alternate Earths.

That's my explanation, anyway.

[kpa]

Thanks for the responses Keith. Also I read your comment on another thread about the upcoming Ultraman movie guide for Sci-Fi Japan. I cant wait for that! I really like Tiga, and was recently able to stream the short film: Ultraman Tiga Gaiden: Revival of the Ancient Giant (2001) (The only movie with Tiga I had not seen). Unfortunately this was quite a disappointment. There were many cool concepts (Ultraman going back in time etc...) but it just seemed to fall flat, unless something was lost in translation (the fansubs were not the greatest). Also I didn't even see the Tsuburaya logo at the beginning, so I wasn't even sure if this was a True Ultraman film, or just a knockoff. If anyone who has seen this could fill me in, this would be appreciated. Thank you

REVIVAL OF THE ANCIENT GIANT was an Ultraman Tiga direct-to-video special. TPC also released video specials featuring Dyna and Gaia in 2001.

I hope you won't be disappointed but REVIVAL won't be in the Ultraman Movie Guide we'll be running on SciFi Japan. The Guide focuses on Ultra titles that were shown in theaters in Japan, and that alone covers more than 40 feature films, shorts, TV episodes and episode compilations, animated films, and featurettes. My hope is that we'll continue to do Ultra Series Guides on the site as well, and we would include info for any TV movies or video specials in those.

[RedZillaKing]

Arrrggghhh! Negative review? I'll reserve judgement for when I see it. As far as the movies running their course... No.

[Legion1979]

As far as the movies running their course... No.

Eh, I'd say a little freshening up wouldn't hurt after three films featuring Zero in a row. And I agree that the giant, mega-super-hardcore final monster gimmick has gotten a little played out.

[Godzilla 2000]

I'm going to agree that the whole "ZOMG ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS" gimmick is really losing its charm.

I havent seen the movie obviously, but just the idea is starting to grate on me.

Apparently in UMSaga we now have to account for:

-Zero's universe
-Dyna's universe
-Cosmos's universe
-The universe Bat seijin attacks
-The universe where Belial was rampaging

How about we just stay in one universe/dimension/continuity at a time from now on?

Which reminds me, this isnt the end of some trilogy right? I'm stlll hoping for another Belial movie that gives us a truly satisfying end to that whole storyline.

[Legion1979]

I think I'm good with Belial for a while.

You know who needs to come back? Freakin' Baltan.

[RedZillaKing]

I heard that! Ultraman Max was the last major appearance wasn't it? All of 7 years ago!

[kpa]

And I agree that the giant, mega-super-hardcore final monster gimmick has gotten a little played out.

I think the "super giant final monster who dwarfs the Ultramen" is more than a little played out... TPC has used that gimmick for the last five movies! I really hope the next Ultraman movie tries something different.

[Primevalgodzilla V2]

Totally agree. I have been complaining about that since Ultra Galaxy Legends. Most of the best villains aren't 50x the size of our Ultramen.

[Jim Ballard]

And I agree that the giant, mega-super-hardcore final monster gimmick has gotten a little played out.

I think the "super giant final monster who dwarfs the Ultramen" is more than a little played out... TPC has used that gimmick for the last five movies! I really hope the next Ultraman movie tries something different.

I'm not sure if this will be of interest, but I did bring this up this very point with Yagi after we saw SAGA. He agreed that it's a tired gimmick that needs to go, but explained the original intention in MEBIUS/SUPER 8 was that, with such a large cast of Ultramen, these scripts required such dominating enemies to maintain the drama. If they had huge casts of 8 Ultramen each fighting 8 average-size monsters there would not be such a great sense of urgency.

My feeling is that in a film like SAGA, where we only have 3 Ultramen (and only two truly fighting the mega-monster), it no longer serves any real purpose - especially considering the later, smaller form of Zetton turned out to be more powerful. It's just there for the sake of being there.

[Petezilla]

Actually I tend to like these "uber-giant final boss monster" type of characters.

Yet I find the ~80 m tall regular U-Killersaurus was way more fun to watch in battle than it's evolved (and dead-designed) version U-Killersaurus Neo.

Giga Chimera was weird, but cool.

Belydra was also nice as of its original idea, but the look was kind of... well... a devil? Improveable.

I also enjoyed Arch Belial, but he was just heavily overized. As a creature roughly the size of the U-Klliersaurus he'd have worked as good if not better. They could have used a big strong guy in a bigger suit and let him tower like one third of the overall height over the Ultras. Just like the Arch Belial figure scales to the 6" Ultras. Arch Belial manhandling the the whole Ultimate Force Zero troup in a physical battle would have been some real cool screenplay! Instead we got him standing there, only shooting his beam to even no real effect. Lame².

Hyper Zetton Giganto is actually the larval form of the much smaller Ultraman-sized, but much more powerful Hyper Zetton Imago, what is kind of a new twist. But his design is very unique and I appreciate his introduction into the Ultra Monster roster. I'm curious on how big the BANDAI figure will turn out to be. It's gonna be released this saturday. Can't wait!

However, I'm totally with Legion and kpa, when I say that this "uber-giant boss monster"-thing should now rest for good for some while. And that's not even mentioning the other big size baddies of previous Ultraman movies and shows, like Terror Angel Zogu I & II, Shibito Zoigar, Giga Berserk, etc. Tsuburaya is gonna be repeating themselves all too much with it. It starts getting lame a little. They should instead focus on something like a completely new monster invention off of the uber-giant scale. They've brought back and reinvented enough old Showa and early Heisei Ultras and Monsters. All these cameos and all were nice all the way, but I feel like they need to do soemthing really new. They followed the simple premise of releasing an enemy, stronger than any previous one, in each and every consecutive movie they made lately.

Belial -> all Ultras combined
Zero -> Belial
Arch Belial -> Zero
Ultimate Zero -> Arch Belial
Hyper Zetton -> Ultimnate Zero + Dyna + Cosmos
Saga -> Hyper Zetton

You see? Need something out of the line.